Conventional spring-biased rat and mousetraps depend on the small animal to supply the energy needed to move the triggering mechanism from the set position to the tripped position. The triggers are not sensitive enough to catch small animals who may make repeated trips gently removing some or all of the bait.
Almost every user of conventional spring-biased rat and mousetraps can recall painful experiences. Although the triggers lack the sensitivity needed to catch a small animal stealing the bait, they are very unforgiving to any user who is not careful enough.
Spring-biased traps are most effective when the small animal enters from the front end of the trap. The conventional traps permit the small animal to enter the trap from any angle. This results in unpredictable results. Sometimes a poorly aligned small animal will survive with little or no injuries or dies a slow painful death. Removing a trapped but injured rat or mouse is sometimes dangerous and always unpleasant.
Conventional rat traps require a considerable amount of strength to set. Removing dead or injured small animals while avoiding contact is difficult because of the poor mechanical advantage that is provided to reset the strong springs.
Conventional rat traps are too large to trap mice or small rats effectively and conventional mousetraps are too weak to effectively kill rats.
If a conventional trap is set outside, there is a possibility that it may kill a bird.
The conventional trap does not signal when tripped.
The prior art is replete with a wide assortment of small animal traps of the general class to which this invention pertains. The existing traps, however, are deficient in certain respects when the traps are used to remove unwanted small animals from an area.
Many of the prior art small animal traps are made using custom-made mechanical parts. These parts require special skills and special machinery to make. Making these parts is beyond the ordinary skills of most who are considered skilled in the art of small animal trap making. The cost of having a small number of these custom-made parts made is generally very high. The present invention has no custom-made parts. Most home workshops have all the equipment needed to build the present invention. A person skilled in the art of building small animal traps should be able to build one from parts that are available from most hardware stores or home improvement centers. All the electronic parts are available from most electronic parts stores.
Many of the prior art small animal traps use expensive high powered electric solenoids, electric motors, power transformers or expensive batteries. The present invention uses only one low power solenoid. It has no costly electric motors, power transformers or expensive batteries. The battery model can run on low cost batteries.
This electronically controlled trap trips when the small animal breaks a light beam. All the energy needed to trip the trap is supplied by the trap and the small animal only needs to supply a shadow. It is much more sensitive than the conventional spring-biased trap. The trap is very easy to set and once it is set will not be tripped accidentally by the normal handling needed to place the trap into position. The user""s hands and fingers never need to enter an area where they may be injured.
This trap allows the entry of the small animal only from the front direction. It will trip only when the small animal is in a good position for the predictable deadly results. In the unlikely event that a small animal is trapped but not killed, the small animal can be removed easily without the user making contact with the animal.
This trap will quickly kill large rats, small rats and mice.
This trap has a cocking yoke that gives the user a good mechanical advantage to set, empty and reset the trap. It is easy to reset the trap and to remove a dead rat or mouse without making any contact with the dead rat or mouse. The user does not need to have strong hands and fingers to set, empty and reset this trap. There is little danger of being accidentally injured while setting, emptying, or resetting this trap.
This electronically controlled small animal trap has a daylight sensor that can be programmed to disable the trap during the daylight hours. The disabled trap will not harm birds or other small animals that are only active during the daylight hours. This function can be disabled if it is not needed.
The trap has an entrance that a large rat has to squeeze into. Pets and other animals that are larger than a rat can""t get their face into the bail striking area of this trap.
This electronically controlled small animal trap can be programmed to signal when tripped or to remain silent.
This invention relates to a spring biased small animal trap; specifically a trap that is triggered by a small animal breaking a light beam.
Therefore, it is the object of this invention to provide a small, low cost, reusable small animal trap that is easy to set and easy to unload. It is another object of this invention to provide a small animal trap that is highly effective at killing both rats and mice and will not kill birds. It is another object of this invention to provide a small animal trap that is capable of signaling the user when the trap has been tripped.